Head First Web Design

Chapter 9. Listen to Your Users: The Pathway to Harmonious Design

Good design is all about really listening to your users. Your users can tell you what’s wrong with your site, what’s right with your site, how you can fix things (if necessary) and how you can improve your site. There are lots of ways you can listen to your users. You can listen to them in groups (using tools like surveys), listen to them individually (with tools such as usability tests), and listen to their collective actions on your site (with tools such as site metrics and statistics). Whatever method you use, its all about “hearing” what your users are saying. If you do, your site will meet the needs of your audience and be that much better for it.

Problems over at RPM

Let your audience speak to you through focus groups and surveys

When you’re designing, redesigning, or fixing a site, you need to be able to ask your audience questions. Who are they? How often do they use the Web? What kind of computer do they use? What do they like about the site’s current design? Do they like the site’s proposed new design?

Note

Remember, as we talked about in Chapter 4, surveys are a great tool for building personas at ...